One of the most important things a creative can do is daydream. This is closely tied to curiosity and imagination, regardless of how embarrassing your dreams, curiosity, or imagination is. You could daydream about hook-kicking yourself in the neck. I’m not here to judge. Frankly, I’d be impressed and would probably send you money and move to your ashram, pledging lifelong devotion to your “technique.” Watching you take one of my suggestions and turn it into a lifelong passion is, well, priceless.
I’m attempting to photograph as much as possible.
There is no project here in Maine, but there are targets of opportunity. I’ve been across this same ground many times before, but I am one of those rare birds who like to return to the scene of the crime again and again. I don’t count countries or passport stamps, and for those of you who do, welcome to the world of biometrics. Stamps are so Cold War.
I was asked to teach in Chile. Patagonia, to be exact. I was approached after my recent talk in Seattle. “Hey, would you consider….” “Yes, I would, but I need to know more.” Ideally, I’d make an initial trip on my own. With this place in particular, I’d like to see it before invading with a gaggle of fellow snappers, writers, or artists. A scouting trip would provide me a chance to shoot, film, and write unencumbered. The host is a guide, puma tracker, and has relationships with numerous naturalist types I’d be keen on hanging with. The trip would include water, land, air, city, mountain, glacier, hike, camp, hotel, and getting mud on the side of the vehicle. I might also do squat thrusts in a monotard.
Let me return to the point of this post. Daydreaming. It’s a must. I believe these moments of detachment are actually moments of attachment. Serious, borderline psycho moments. In high school, I had a stalker type moment. Yes, this is a tangent. Hang on. She took white shoe polish and wrote all over my black on black Chevy S10 Blazer. And she managed to time it so that my truck sat in the South Texas sun ALL DAY LONG, which made the writing impossible to undo. What did she write? “You’re Scrumptious.” (She did have a decent vocabulary.)
Did you know that over one thousand people a year die by crocodile? That seems high, but the number is probably way higher. Gotta be top three worst ways to go. Anywho, daydreaming. Essential for all creatives. I believe daydreams unlock our most creative selves. Daydreams allow us to pretend. No limits. I think the creative industries have always been fundamentally tied to those who can access this netherworld, but moving forward, I think it will be mandatory for survival. AI will take the conformists. Already happening. My guess is, influencers, YouTubers, illustrators, photographers, and copy editors are on the chopping block. The clock is ticking. I don’t want this to happen. I don’t, but the acceptance of AI as a time-saving tool by legions of creative people who don’t seem to know this is the beginning of the end has been shocking, to say the least.
AI voiceovers are horrendous and already “normal.” Photographers who complain about AI but use it for their editing, copywriting, and other menial tasks, who don’t see the irony. And the vast majority of business folks don’t care where their creativity comes from. What will survive is what makes us human, at least until the machines learn how to snuff us out. I’ll be running from building to building with my plasma rifle, taking down T800s. Fully armored, very tough. “Come with me if you want to live,” the same thing I want to tell dorky, middle-aged men who watch camera review channels.
What makes us human? That’s what we gotta find and hold on to. Death grip. And here’s my last uplifting thought of the moment. The machines don’t need to snuff us out. They just need to convince us of the plan, and we will do it for them. (I’m an optimist.) Imagine those Jan 6th lunies when they lose healthcare, their savings, their job, and are deemed “redundant.” I’m sure they will go willingly to the tar pits. “Careful, Buford, that first step is a doozy.”
Shoot, edit, sequence, design. Lay it out, mock it up, put it down on screen, and then move to the luxurious texture of choice. Smooth, rough, silky, toothy. All good. Leave your mark. “Brother, I will put you down,” DeNiro says to Pacino. Ya, that’s the plan. Put it down, turn, and walk back into the light.
PS: These spreads are more “ten-minute exercises.” I spent extra time finding a typeface, but mostly because I hadn’t done this in quite a while and love finding new lettering. I didn’t have a great lead image, but do like several of the follow-up images. What you see in these spreads is what I’ve been doing since 1990. Shoot, edit, sequence, design, and envision what something would look like in print, whether that be a wet darkroom print or a Blurb book.
Comments 16
I have no idea how people even begin to like a AI voiceover. It stings in my ear like something we are not meant to hear. Our need to always find something more comfortable, more convenient has brought us to the brink of losing our selves.
You won’t believe to what unhealthy extent I daydream everyday. Sometimes I feel the daydream is the reality and the reality is just a dream.
PS-Have you ever felt that travelling is the part which is tiring, the days of exploring is feels the most energetic?
Author
Ha, I think it’s a fine line between daydreaming and checking out. And I like that line…. Traveling can be grueling but the positive is worth it.
ooooooh yeah! we are missing the salty taste of concrete reality. Hands and clothes dirty with engine grease that feels like printing black ink. The chilling wind coming down from the andes and clashing with the Southern Ocen magnificent storms. Mud from unpaved roads and creek crossings you would bet it’s another Drake Passage. I’m in for a Patagonia scout trip!
Author
I’ll let you know as soon as I know…
I’ve got a rant brewing for my blog. Getting written in my head and so far it’s rage against the machine, against the inhumanity that is taking over our world. It’s easy to blame Trump, of course, but he’s just the guy watering a monstrous poisonous weed, one with fangs and tentacles. Many people would like to daydream about that weed eating him, but whatever comes along afterward is likely to be worse, hard as that might be to imagine. I was out for a walk in our local park yesterday to get away from it, between thunderstorms, and found the river had washed away a bunch of the bank and pathway in one place. I think it took a park bench as well. Perhaps we’ll see the bench again downstream, when the water levels subside. Or maybe it’s in a deep spot and won’t be seen till the Bow River dries up because the glacier feeding it has melted. Returning to the same place is interesting because the place often isn’t quite the same anymore. This time of year is usually good for photo rambles wading through the creek because that gets you to places you can’t get to otherwise, but just now that would be a good way to drown or get bashed to death against the rocks. Did I mention the daily thunderstorms and lots of rain? And you know, people would probably pay for a video of you trying to hook-kick your neck. Just saying.
Author
Video is in production now. And yes, what comes next is gonna be ugly. Trump is an easy read, always has been. What’s been semi-shocking is watching an entire political party eat itself to keep him happy. The enablers all wear the scarlet letter. When this goes sideways, and it will, I would not want to be in their shoes. When the base voter realizes how badly they’ve been conned, it’s gonna come undone and they are gonna look for someone to blame.
Daydreaming… AI on my screen machines?… AI on my camera?… so far so good,camera is not mirrorless but DSLR old style and no AI chips included… , film is my savier, just Ag chrystals changing habits in gelatine… , smartphone is something different but it is AI free and 8 years old with assistant switched off and will last another 5 years for sure, the other machines are safe too except I upgraded the desktop PC, with the damned AI baked into it, saw it jumping on a jpeg attacking it like a puma on the reebok… so not good.
But: using the AI for saving lives and helping the disabled, check, very much appreciated but this nonsense has to be forbidden for daily household tasks… ouch stepping on tech savy type’s long toes…
Author
I saw an ad today, all fake. The humans looked like cyborgs, but not cool cyborgs like Terminator.
Out of curiosity, I once asked a wedding photographer how many images she takes during a single wedding.
“Around 8-10 thousand,” she said.
I thought it was a joke…it wasn’t.
After the shock settled, I asked, “How in the name of flipping hell do you edit them?”
“I don’t,” she said. “AI does.”
That day I learned that all the photographers I was sitting at the same table with were using AI for editing. A few cents per image, a learning curve for both the photographer and the AI, and in the end–voila–you get 50 to 100 images that make it into the bride’s album.
The funny thing was, exactly as you mentioned, they all complained about AI taking over and creatives losing their buck.
Author
Wedding photogs are notorious for “hiring out.” This was how I booked a lot of my jobs during that time of my life. I’d tell clients, “If an intern can do your editing, you suck as a photographer, and your work looks the same from job to job.” Anyone who shoots that much during a wedding is a total hack.
Just for fun. Nice.
Author
Always. Hook kick.
Danielsan, I’m guessing (or warning) you spend enough time on the Chilean side of Patagonia, then perhaps hop over the Andes and cruise the Argentinian side of the region for awhile….It is quite possible you’ll not return.
Author
Christmas in the wilds. I rode my bike past a small lake today, almost a pond, which was total glass and loaded with lily pads with giant gaps between. I almost crashed.
Typeface selection always revealed where I was in a project…..sometimes I’d find a cool font that fit things perfectly, and provide a set for titles through to call-outs. Other times I’d grow bored and fall back on one of 4 or 5 families just to get the damn thing over with. Case & point: Mrs. Eaves Italic (I just wanna go to bed.)
Author
I’m a huge fan of the fashion rags of the 1980s. Their type treatments are SO good. I need to find a source for those crazy serif typefaces/fonts.